Dark Souls III: The Ringed City

Dark Souls 3 offers little in the way of a tutorial, so this guide covers the general information you'll need to make it through the beginning of the game. You'll learn about health, death, souls, leveling up, saving, weapons, armor, and rings.

Health & Death

Your character's health is indicated by the red gauge at the top left of the screen. When your health reaches 0, you will die and return to the last activated bonfire, dropping your Souls on the ground. You can regain health by resting at a bonfire, using an Estus Flask (which refills at bonfires), casting a healing spell, or using an Ember to increase your max HP and heal you to full. Dying while Embered will make you unkindled, reducing your max HP until you become human again. Embrace dying and playing unkindled to become a better fighter and avoid invasions; save Embers for difficult fights or when you need the extra HP.

Souls & Leveling Up

Souls are the currency used for purchasing items and leveling up. They are obtained by killing enemies or using items and are lost upon death. If you die, your Souls will drop at your bloodstain; retrieve them before dying again to avoid permanent loss. To level up, visit the Fire Keeper at Firelink Shrine and exchange Souls for stat points. The cost increases with each level gained.

Saving & Loading

Dark Souls 3 uses an auto-save feature, meaning you cannot reload to retry after death. The game saves periodically, including after death. The only way to retry boss fights or endings without replaying the entire game is by backing up your save file to an external device.

Weapons & Equipment

Weapons and equipment are do-or-die for combat and defense. Use the item details page to understand how new gear affects your stats and playstyle. Equip Load, determined by Vitality, affects your mobility based on the combined weight of your gear.

Weapons

Weapons include swords for melee, shields for blocking, ranged weapons like bows, and catalysts for magic. They are equipped to either the right or left hand and can be switched quickly. Weapons can be reinforced with upgrade materials or infused with gems at Andre the Blacksmith in Firelink Shrine to enhance their stats, though not all weapons can be infused.

Armor

Armor is equipped to four slots: Head, Chest, Gloves, and Legs. Each piece affects defense and resistances. Light armor offers less defense but allows for greater mobility, while heavy armor provides more defense at the cost of mobility.

Rings

Rings offer various supportive abilities with minimal weight cost. You can equip up to four rings, and experimenting with different combinations is encouraged.

This section refers to the different elements that make up a character, including their original creation at the beginning of the game and the Stats that make up how they ultimately play.

Classes

The class of your character determines their starting Stats, but you'll quickly customize these stats to your liking as you level up throughout the game. In the end the class you begin with is fairly meaningless, but you might want to read the back story of each for some a thematic selection.

Stats

The stats of a character make up everything from how much Health and Stamina they have to how much damage their attacks do. These stats can be increased 1 point by collecting Souls from enemies, using items, or selling things to Merchants and then speaking with the Firekeeper in Firelink Shrine.

Combat is the most important part of Dark Souls 3, with complex features that can be the difference of an area being easy or difficult. Mastering combat is going to be the deal breaker of whether or not you like this game, with many people finding the harsh punishments for failure as a reason to give up.

Stamina is used for everything from attacking and rolling to dashing and backstepping, so you need to make sure that you use it appropriately in order to prevent death due to the inability to avoid an attack. Stamina regenerates naturally if you're not using your Stamina, so make sure that you give yourself time to recover in between attacks or battles.

When near a target you can Lock-On, allowing you to backstep and side-step easily around them. If there are multiple targets you can switch targets or unlock and then lock a new target. While this can be great for aiming your attacks, you may wish to not lock on for large enemies with weaknesses in their arms or legs, as the lock-on typically targets their head.

There are two types of attacks: basic and strong attacks. Basic attacks are weaker, use less stamina, and can be chained together easily. Strong attacks are much slower and can be charged to do significant damage, but don't chain well with basic attacks. All weapons can be two-handed to do additional damage and access Weapon Skills.

Sneaking up behind enemies, or getting behind them mid-combat, will give you the chance to backstab them with a normal attack. This lethal form of attack will deal massive damage and kick the enemy to the ground. Use this to your advantage, but don't prolong a battle by fishing for these.

Ranged attacks using bows or crossbows can hit enemies at range, which many enemies are unable to perform. Bows must be two-handed to perform an attack, and you can either aim to fire or lock-on and then fire. Having a bow equipped is great for pulling enemies or dealing free damage before a target reaches you.

Spellcasting uses FP (Focus Points) to cast spells and deal massive damage, unless enemies have high Magic resistance. Casting requires Attunement slots to equip spells, Catalysts to use them, and Intelligence and/or Faith to increase potency. Spellcasters should mix Estus Flasks (HP) with Ashen Estus Flasks (FP) for healing.

Even melee builds can benefit from some Intelligence/Faith and one attunement slot. For example, a Miracle like Caressing Tears, which heals status ailments, costs only 12 Faith and 1 Attunement slot, potentially saving many Estus Flasks in areas with damaging status effects.